The present invention relates to a multiple jet pushbutton that is closable and that is designed to be fitted to a hand-held dispenser or spray for use with a fluid. Such pushbuttons are used in particular for spraying a pharmaceutical preparation into the nose of a patient, but they may be used in other applications.
A technical problem that arises with all such pushbuttons is to prevent contact between outside air and the substance contained in the pushbutton, for the purposes of preventing the substance drying out, of preventing it being oxidized by oxygen in the air, or preventing it being polluted.
This problem has been solved in various different ways for conventional pushbuttons that include one outlet orifice only. For example, European patent application No. 0129643 describes a pushbutton including a cylindrical duct provided with an outlet end including an outlet orifice and slidably receiving a piston secured to a punch that points towards the outlet orifice, the piston being resiliently urged towards a position where the punch closes the outlet orifice and being suitable for being urged towards a position in which the outlet orifice is opened by the action of pressure from a fluid to be sprayed.
In a multiple jet pushbutton, the substance is ejected via a plurality of outlet orifices. Clearly, each of the outlet orifices could be closed by a respective closure means, but that gives rise to two technical problems:
1/how to ensure simply that each closure means faces an outlet orifice without complicating assembly of the pushbutton; and
2/how to guarantee that all of the closed outlet orifices are sealed without requiring impractical manufacturing tolerances and without complicating the apparatus.
An object of the present invention is to solve these technical problems. It should be observed that such pushbuttons are generally discarded after the supply of substance in the spray has been used up. The technical solution adopted must therefore necessarily be cheap.